On February 17, we were so thrilled to welcome three DQ powerhouses, Brian Chippendale, Nick Drnaso, and Michael DeForge, to the store for an impressive triple book launch!

The three artists were introduced by Tom Devlin, who had nothing but good things to say about them, and who firmly believes that this moment, the quick consecutive launches of Brian's Puke Force, Nick's Beverly, and Michael's Big Kids, will go down in publishing history.

Michael was introduced by referencing his already prolific career (and at such a young age!), and by the fact that, for Tom, Michael only seems to improve with time.

He read from three stories: “Computer” (pictured above), “On Kissing” (in which kissing came about as mouths trying to eat one another), and “Margot the Airplane,” one after another.

Next up was Nick, whom Tom stressed had come out of nowhere with a debut that is amazing. The stories in Beverly are incredibly well-formed, and work together beautifully.

For his presentation, Nick showed us pictures he used as inspiration for both his art, and Beverly's story, including the mug shots of suburban teen murderers, pictures of people he knew growing up, and google street view photos. His girlfriend's doll collection (above) helped him figure out how to draw "blank" faces.

Puke Force is Brian's fourth comic collection, and Tom introduced it as the best thing the artist has ever done, with a clarity that makes it his finest work.

Brian walked us through a selection of episodes in Puke Force. The book started out being about a group of people trying to find a secret headquarters, but he never got around to revealing where the HQ actually was. His point wasn't to be funny, but "maybe, possibly, perhaps funny." His comics are peppered with pop cultural characters (you can find cameos from the purple smurf or the dungeon master from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon), and take on topics as varied as surveillance culture, fear of commitment, and 80s punk thrash bands. (Fun fact: Brian was born exactly one year, to the day, after Bruce Lee died.)

Thanks to everyone who came out to the (packed!) event, and a big thank you to Nick, Brian, and Michael for making it such a memorable evening!